The fermentation yield of industrial metabolites has increased dramatically over the last years. The yield of a metabolite such as a protease is now so high that more than 60% of the protease in the fermentation broth may be present as crystals and/or amorphous precipitate.
A number of methods have been applied for solving this problem of recovering the metabolite of interest in the most efficient way, see e.g., WO 2008/110498, wherein a method is disclosed comprising diluting the fermentation broth with water, adding a divalent salt, and adjusting the pH value of the fermentation broth to a pH value below pH 5.5.
The method disclosed in WO 2008/110498 demands a lot of water, so the purpose of this invention is to provide an efficient and less water demanding method to the above described problem.